Wednesday, April 16, 2008

You knew it was coming, and here it is. Is Hillary going to stick to her plan to withdraw a brigade or two a month? Hillary answers ... that she sticks to her 60-day plan to "begin withdrawing" and that she will withdraw slowly because it is dangerous. Isn't she saying she knows better than military commanders, Gibson asks? No, she says (but she is), turning the question into a response about the U.S.'s standing in the world. "We don't know what will happen if we withdraw, but we do know what will happen if we remain mired in Iraq," she says.

Obama is asked about the date that David Plouffe gave, the 16-month commitment. He says that the president should set the mission, which the military should carry out. This is a better tack, in my opinion, on this question than Hillary took. "I will always listen to the commanders on the ground," he says, and that's an important statement to make. He leaves the door open to "taking into consideration the adjustments" that commanders may suggest, but "the buck stops with me."